From 17 July to 1 August, 2010, an expedition was held in the region of Meskheti and Mountainous Adjara, within the frames of the project Monitoring of Local Plant Species in the Regions of Georgia. The purpose of the expedition was to monitor the diversity of local plant species cultivated for the last 30 years.

Together with Prof. M. Akhalkatsi and Ph.D. students J. Ekhvaia, K. Pistrick, Professor of the Leibniz Institute of Plant Genetics and Crop Plant Research (Germany) participated in the expedition. Instances of genetic erosion were detected, which means that some species had disappeared and their seeds are no more available in the villages in which they had been sown during the first expedition of 1980. In Meskheti one can still find Georgian corn and barley, as well as their crops. In Adjara, local potato varieties have been dramatically reduced as the population is mostly using newly introduced species.

[wpai_display_imported_files_here]